Driving the Drunken Student

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Three or four buses are the norm for each event, says Reddock--and Getaway has learned the hard way to require a $200 "puke deposit" to cover the extra cleaning required when drunken passengers vomit on the bus. Reddock estimates that half the time the deposit is forfeited.

Students usually aren't ready at the scheduled pickup time because they're already partying, Reddock says, and they are "drunk before they get on the bus." Once at their destination, "they take over the whole place--party all night." The buses leave the area immediately. "We drivers go where they can't find us because sometimes they get kicked out and want to hang out on the bus," Reddock explains. "We don't want to have to deal with them until it's time to take them home."

It's no secret that many U-M students drink heavily. The U-M Substance Abuse Research Center found that nearly half of the students responding to surveys since 1999 admitted to binge drinking. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism website, 1,825 college students die each year from alcohol-related injuries; 599,000 students between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four are injured while under the influence of alcohol; and more than 690,000 students are assaulted by another student who has been drinking.